Cirque De Freak- A book review

Posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009, at 10:01 PM

I decided I need a change of pace and I finished a book last night that I really enjoyed reading. Cirque De Freak A Living Nightmare

I'm letting out a side most people don't see. My freaky side, the one that loves reading and writing urban fantasy; primarily the mystery, suspense thriller stories but I'll read the occasional romance if there is more than romance to the story. If you've never heard of Carrie Vaughn, Laurel K. Hamilton, Christopher Pike or L.J. Smith then this may not be the novel for you.

I was hoping the movie (Cirque de Freak The Vampires Assistant) would come here (dang, missed that one) and I'm still looking forward to seeing the movie. Anyway, I almost didn't read this book. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I read somewhere that the movie encompasses the first three books.

Despite it being young adult, I did enjoy it. I'm not above reading young adult, there are some really good stories out there.

Cirque De Freak by Darren Shan. The story is about two young boys who make some poor choices and find themselves at a freak show. *SPOILER ALERT* Darren and his friend Steve have been reading comics and anything with monsters like vampires and werewolves for years. I can totally relate to the boys in that respect. If they were older, they may not have gotten into so much trouble. So when the to of them with two other friends find a flier to the Cirque de Freak, a freak show, with some unique "humans". Only two of the boys are able to go, by the luck of the draw, Darren and Steve are chosen. There are several chapters each describing the "freaks" and their act in the show. During the show Mr. Crepsley is the man with the performing venomous tarantula. Darren gets the foolish idea to steal the spider and Steve to ask Mr. Crepsley to turn him into a vampire which didn't happen. Darren kept the spider a secret for several weeks but Steve finally found out. When Darren shows Steve what he can do, an accident happens and Steve is bitten and nearly dies from the spider bite. Darren, in exchange for Steve's life, offers to become the vampires assistant. I hadn't seen that coming. To become the vampires assistant Darren had to become a half vampire (one who aged slower than human but not as slow as full vampire, had the same requirements for drinking blood but could go out in daylight). I did notice a few differences between the book and the movie trailer but those were minor. I can't compare the book to the full movie since I haven't seen it yet.

I look forward to the next book but that will have to wait until after the holidays since my TBR (To Be Read) pile is higher than I'd like it to be.

I'm also working on finishing my first NANOWRIMO novel from 2006. At the time I was working full time, in a play "Miracle on 34th Street" and trying to write 50K words in 30 days. Needless to say I didn't finish it. I'd gotten to a point about 35K into the story and hit a very dark spot with one of the two main characters. I got the guts to re-read it last summer and was pleasantly surprised at how much I still liked the story and how well I'd written it.

A story currently called In the Graveyard.

Hanna Mathews has been an New York FBI agent for fifteen years, a werewolf for twenty, able to communicate to ghosts all her life and totally stumped on a high profile case for three years.

Natalie Meguire was heir to her fathers fortune before she was murdered three years ago and has only a week to find out the truth behind her death before she moves on. The trouble is, she can't leave the graveyard and nobody can see or hear her.

Hanna and Natalie's lives (or deaths) change on the night before the full moon when Hanna breaks her own rule about avoiding cemeteries.

I've posted the first two chapters on Facebook if anybody is interested in reading it. You can find it in my notes.

Also, I'm hoping to see New Moon while it is here. I read the entire Twilight series and loved most of it. The first movie wasn't entirely bad either.